WAu-6020:Queen Anne Gold Touch
Piece.Guaranteed to have been
touched by Queen Anne herself at an official Touching Ceremony to “cure”
Scrofula (modern day Tubercularosis).Sufferers of the disease were invited to
attend by strict invitation only.A pass
was given which allowed entry although no Queen Anne passes have been recorded,
leading to the assumption that either they were handwritten paper passes or the
old Charles II passes were re-used.The
Queen personally gave every sufferer one of these gold touchpieces.The theory was that the Queen touched the
gold touchpiece and then personally gave it to the
sufferer, so through her God also touched the sufferer.Queen Anne is recorded as being the most
reluctant Toucher out of all the monarchs, getting
out of what she could.The touchpieces were purposefully pierced, always in the same
position, in order that sufferers could wear them around their necks, next to
their skin.The vast majority of these
would have been melted down and the money spent on everyday living, if not by
the sufferer, then surely his or her descendants.Recipients were not always commoners.Queen Anne touched Dr Johnson (of the
Dictionary fame) when he was 2 ½ on 30
March 1712.His touchpiece, identical to this one, currently resides in the
BritishMuseum.Dr Johnson’s touchpiece,
like this one, also shows little or no sign of wear.Unlike previous monarchs who physically
touched the sufferers’ open sores and wounds, Queen Anne refused to do this,
instead opting for a loadstone to do the touching.She certainly touched the gold touchpieces though.27th April 1714, three
months before Anne died, was the last ever Touching Ceremony performed on
British soil.In total, the practice had
been in existence for 50 years.The
Hanoverians (George 1st etc) would have none of it.This is a high grade example with a provenance
going back to 1968 (x2 tickets and a printout).Touchpieces issued by Anne are much rarer than
those issued by other English monarchs.This is the first I’ve owned and I don’t think I’ve even seen another
outside of books and the BM.£2,275

WCA-6201:1709 Queen Anne Copper
Halfpenny – Isle of Man.Cast under
James Stanley, 10th Earl of Derby.The
pennies and halfpennies were cast in moulds which accounts for the lack of
definition.Spink 7402
(£250, £900 in 2016 edition).The
recent Spink sale (March 2014) had several examples of Isle of Man coinage but only a single example of the
1709 (first issue) halfpenny.The hammer
price was £400 so with commission that’s around £500.This one much is streets ahead of that coin,
being as good as you’re ever likely to find.£369